Who the hell runs another marathon less than a week after going down in flames (well, wind and rain)? This CHICK! That's right I went out and ran the Hawaii Kai Ultra today just hoping that I would be able to finish. After last week's Honolulu Marathon my legs were a huge mess so I had the hubby to roll them every night. They finally felt better on Tuesday and I did a bunch of short speed runs to get the heart rate going.
With a super busy work week I was also worried about racing on a Saturday. I usually run on Sundays so that I can rest the day before. Not this time! I tried to hydrate as much as I could on Friday and get to bed early.
Race day came and I knew I had nothing to lose. I was going to try and I was either going to fail or I was going to succeed. It was 50/50. Not bad odds. I thought it was funny that less than a week ago I was questioning my sanity and questioning why anyone in their right mind would pay to run 26.2 miles for fun. I guess it's like child birth, you forget the pain.
Anyhow, I signed in at the race tent, talked story with Kawika and took off running with Glori and Cathy. All three of us soon settled into our own paces and began running.
Running solo for so long was very, very relaxing. I was surprised at how fast the time went by. I was worried about having to run loops but I think counting to 7.5 loops was much easier than counting to 26.2 miles or running to Hawaii Kai or Kaena Point. When the sun came out it got way hot and the run got harder but since it was no pressure I walked or stopped at the tent to talk story or to eat and drink. I ended up only taking two GUs on this run but munched on pretzels, apples, and drank a lot of Gatorade. This seemed to work well for me because I never felt like I was out of energy.
On the road I got texts and Facebook messages form friends and visits from The Price Family as well as my own. On my last half lap the hubby ran with me and when it was all over I could not believe that I had conquered such a huge goal!
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